By any measure, AIDS is a daunting disease. It is physically devastating, incurable, and deadly. And it is spreading at a menacing pace. Fear and misconceptions about AIDS, however, have spread faster than the disease itself.
Federal health officials stress that the AIDS virus has spread very exclusively by routes: by sexual activity, through blood contact (contamination with or transfusion of infected blood or blood products), and from an infected pregnant woman to her fetus or newborn. The only other known instances in which the virus was transmitted, say officials, involved artificial insemination or organ transplants from infected donors.
But lots of people stay unconvinced. They fear that casual personal contact with an AIDS victim�a handshake, a sneeze, a drink from the same glass�might lead to infection. A kid with AIDS trying to attend school can throw a community in to a frenzy. An AIDS patient returning to work may find coworkers deserting the job in protest.
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